Events

For further information about any of the events listed see either the members Programme Booklet or please contact the member as below.

If you wish to attend a Self - Drive garden visit, coach trip or short break it is necessary to book in advance. Booking forms for each event are posted with the quarterly Newsletter. These are only available to members and their guests.

Spring comes early in West Cornwall so our first visit is to Trewidden, a magnificent, privately-owned Victorian garden where Head Gardener, Richard Morton and his team will show us Asiatic magnolias, early shrubs and spring flowers.

We then travel to Lady Banham’s riverside garden at Penberth with its rare daffodils, early shrubs and trees, and granite features and paths. Our guides will be Jeff Rowe and Claire Batten from Penberth Plants, winners of six RHS Chelsea Gold medals.

March12

Lecture: Kenneth Cox – The Woodland Garden

As well as our self-drive visit to Trewidden Garden, Buryas Bridge and Penberth House, St Buryan, we will also host our evening lecture on Tuesday 12th March as Kenneth Cox join us to tell us all about The Woodland Garden.

Join us at 7.30pm at The Alverton, Tregolls Road, Truro

March13

Lecture: Kenneth Cox – Woodland Gardening

As a third generation woodland gardener and Managing Director at the family firm – Glendoick Gardens in Scotland, which specialises in rhododendrons, azaleas and ericaceous plants – Kenneth Cox is uniquely placed to cover this subject.

He is also Scotland’s bestselling garden writer with two of his 11 books having been garlanded by the Garden Media Guild as UK Gardening Book of the Year.

Born into a family of renowned plantsmen and world-leading rhododendron experts, Kenneth is the grandson of plant-hunter, writer and nurseryman, Euan Cox and the son of Peter Cox VMH.

Kenneth has carved out a particular niche in the world of plant-hunting having led nine expeditions to South and South-East Tibet, and Arunachal Pradesh in India. He also designs and advises on the restoration of woodland gardens in the UK and further afield.

We hope to see you at St Mellion International Resort, Saltash at the slightly earlier time of 2pm.

March30

Junior Competitive Class Workshop

The Cornwall Garden Society are working in partnership with St Austell-based social enterprise, Perennial Harvest to offer hands-on horticultural workshops in the run up to this year's Spring Flower Show to help children of all ages create their entries and try their hand at winning a prize in our junior competitive classes.

The second pre-Show session will be held at Wheal Martyn Clay Works in St Austell on Saturday 30th March, and this one is a free, drop-in workshop between 10.30am and 1.30pm.

April6 - 7

CGS Spring Flower Show

With anew venueand a new look for 2019, theCGS Spring Flower Showis set to be the best yet. With an enviable reputation on the national gardening calendar it’s the perfect opportunity to get into the gardening mood for the season to come. So do join us to experience our spring oasis within theRoyal Cornwall Showground.

Join us onSaturday 6th and Sunday 7th April 2019to explore an array of horticultural delights will be wide-ranging, with stunning displays of spring flowers and shrubs, plus beautiful floral art and photographic displays. And if you fancy indulging in a bit of garden-relatedretail therapywe have everything you could wish for with over 60 prestigious nurseries selling fabulous plants and bulbs and another 50 plus retailers selling garden-related goodies.

With afocus on familieswe look forward to welcoming lots of youngsters to the show and will be offering a range of activities designed to nurture an interest in gardening, wildlife and the natural world.

All that plus an Artisan Marquee, live music, and a food offering that will get your taste buds tingling.

Day Trip by Coach to Mount Edgcumbe and Antony House Gardens, Torpoint

Both of these historic gardens in South East Cornwall are home to National Collections® of camellias.

At Mount Edgcumbe, generations of the Edgcumbe family, from the 16th century onwards, have helped to create the gardens surrounding their home. The design and planting of the different areas reflect both geographical regions and moments in history. Here, you will find some 1,000 varieties and species of camellia.

The landscape of Antony House was designed by Humphrey Repton and affords expansive views of the River Lynher. Enjoy the camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons as you walk through the deep valley of Westdowns Wood. Ponds are surrounded by a diverse array of ornamental trees and flowering shrubs, whilst The Wilderness leads down to the riverbank.

Self Drive Visits to Scorrier House, Redruth and Trevince, Gwenna

Spring is one of the best times to visit Scorrier with its bluebells, camellias and rhododendrons. Originally built in 1780 by John Williams as a mine office, the gardens, where William Lobb was once employed, were planted later. In addition to the gardens, Caroline and Richard Williams are kindly permitting us to view the formal herbaceous border, conservatory and large walled garden where vegetables are grown.

Newly opened to the public following Richard and Trish Stone’s ongoing restoration, Trevince comprises 25 acres of parkland, a one-acre walled garden, an ornamental woodland walk, an orchard and pinetum, and a collection of endangered conifers. Current renovation projects relate to a brick summerhouse in the Pond Garden and citrus cultivation.

Show gardens, top quality nurseries, specialist plant exhibitors and the beautiful Floral Marquee make RHS Malvern a wonderful event to experience.

Other highlights include visits to Spetchley Park Gardens with its stunning flowering shrubs and spring bulbs; White Cottage & Nursery with it snake’s head fritillary meadow; Morton Hall and its Tulip Festival; Perrycroft Arts & Craft Garden, designed by Charles Voysey, set on the steep side of the Malvern Hills with spectacular views of the Black Mountains; and a day at RHS Chelsea Gold medallist John Massey’s Ashwood Nurseries complete with garden tour.

Dinner, bed and breakfast will be at the popular Three Ways House Hotel in Mickleton, home of the famous Pudding Club.

To download a booking form for this garden holiday, please click here.

Pendower House is a Georgian rectory. Roger Lamb will guide us through its formal herbaceous terrace, cottage garden and orchards to reveal ponds, streams and a 19th century shrub garden.

In contrast, the country garden created by Sue and Roger Paine at Gardens Cottage is relatively new. With imaginative use of colour and planting, and year-round interest, it incorporates a formal garden, long borders, a courtyard garden and a productive kitchen/cutting garden.

Day trip by coach to Bickham House, Exeter and Cadhay House and Garden, Ottery St Mary, Devon

At Bickham House, we will discover seven acres of colour co-ordinated borders, mature trees, a fernery and a water garden. There is a formal parterre complete with lily pond and a walled garden full of vegetables and flowers. A palm tree avenue leads to a summerhouse.

Cadhay Garden provides a tranquil setting for the magnificent Elizabethan manor house built in 1550, a tour of which is an option. Full of colour, the garden includes a 120ft herbaceous bed planted with cottage garden plants. There are clematis, roses and lilies as well as two medieval fishponds. The walled garden has been transformed into allotments.

Run by Karen Townsend and Ryya Bread, Kestle Barton is a restored ancient farmstead and gallery above Frenchman’s Creek. The garden was created in the south-facing mowhay by James Alexander-Sinclair whose plantsman’s scheme of gauzy swathes of herbaceous plants and sweeping grasses surround a space for sitting and dreaming. Beyond is the meadow with its ever-changing carpet of wild flowers and adjacent orchard.

During lunch at The Potager, Mark Harris will describe how this charming haven emerged from a bramble-choked wilderness.

Andrew and Kathryn Eaton’s sculpted grass meadow at Tregonning takes in panoramic views from Carn Brea to Helston. There are leaf-shaped beds, a stream and pond, a summerhouse, carp pond, fernery and packed vegetable garden.

Day trip by coach to Durslade Farm Garden and Gallery, Bruton and National Trust Barrington Court, Ilminster, Somerset

At the home of Hauser & Wirth, we will enjoy a tour of the Gallery and Piet Oudolf’s wonderful perennial meadow where 17 beds of naturalistic European plants are divided by grass walkways. There is a feeling of relaxed freedom as the garden links to the green landscape beyond. Bold groups of carefully chosen perennials provide endless interest.

The garden at National Trust Barrington Court was created by Colonel Arthur Lyle where he followed a layout and planting scheme suggested by Gertrude Jekyll. Various walled gardens contain iris, roses and lilies. The kitchen garden has been in continuous production for more than 90 years.

Our booking form will be available in March.

August18 - 22

Garden holiday to the Gardens of Norfolk and Suffolk

Brightwater Garden Holidays have organised this tour for us, which will begin with Beth Chatto’s famous garden. Corpusty Mill, the private garden of Roger Last will be followed by National Trust Blickling Hall; Dell Garden and Foggy Bottom created by the Bloom family; Helmingham Hall Gardens where house, parkland and gardens create an exceptional work of art, and Wyken Hall.

The Plantation Garden in Norwich is an oasis of peace and tranquillity; National Trust Felbrigg Hall is one of the finest 17th century houses in East Anglia; the breathtaking 20 acres of East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden will delight and RHS Hyde Hall will be our finale.

Dinner, bed and breakfast will be provided at the 4* Dunston Hall Hotel in Norwich.

Our booking form and full itinerary will be available in March.

Sep 10 -Aug 10

Self-drive visit to Bokelly, St Kew and Millpond, Lower Amble

Bokelly’s seven-acre garden surrounds an historic house with lichened outbuildings and a 15th century barn. An inspirational work in progress by its owner, Henrietta Courtauld, the garden features new plantings for various levels and soils with woodland, an orchard, a vegetable plot and large cutting garden as well as herbal and wildflower areas.

Later, we visit the charming hamlet of Lower Amble to concentrate on Sheilagh Lees’ 20-year-old garden with its wealth of trees and shrubs, herbaceous borders with late flowering roses, fuchsias and perennials, orchard, vegetable garden and lovely millpond.

Our booking form will be available in June.

October08

CGS Annual General Meeting

Join us for our annual general meeting at 7pm on Tuesday 8th October at The Alverton, Tregolls Road, Truro

October08

Lecture: Mike Nelhams – Tresco Story

As well as our AGM, we also invite you to join us for our October lecture which will be hosted by Tresco’s very own Mike Nelhams. Join Mike on a journey around this beautiful island.

This lecture will begin at 7:30pm after our AGM at The Alverton, Tregolls Road, Truro.

October09

Lecture: Mike Nelhams – Gardens of the Mediterranean

Mike Nelhams was an early recruit of RHS Wisley’s two-year horticultural certificate in the 1970s, where he spent weeks ‘frozen to the top of a ladder’ learning how to prune apple trees properly at commercial speeds.

He then worked at Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly for a year, before being asked to stay on for a further 18 months of tree work. This was followed by five years at High Beeches in Sussex.

In 1984, Mike received an invitation from the owner of Tresco Abbey Gardens, Robert Dorrien-Smith, to return as Head Gardener and he has worked there ever since.

Being taught to do things in the right way without shortcuts at RHS Wisley has characterised Mike’s horticultural career and he adopts the same approach with his students today.

Join us at the Penventon Park Hotel, West End, Redruth at 2.30pm

November12

Lecture: Derry Watkins – Unusual and Long-blooming Garden Plants

This month’s lectures come from Derry Watkins as he brings us an insightful talk about unusual and Long-blooming Garden Plants

Join us at The Alverton, Tregolls Road, Truro at 7:30pm

November13

Lecture: Derry Watkins – Pushing the Boundaries

Derry Watkins started Special Plants Nursery 30 years ago. In 1993, she won a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to spend three months in South Africa hunting for new plants to introduce into horticulture. In 1995 she returned, seed collecting in the Drakensberg. Since then, she has collected plants in many parts of the world and is renowned for many new plant introductions.

In 1996, Derry and her husband bought a derelict barn to convert into a house, and during the last 20 years, they have converted the fields into an amazing garden, which has featured in major horticultural journals and on television.

Derry also teaches at The English Gardening School and is the author of two books: The Complete Greenhouse Book and Sunspaces.

Join us at St Mellion International Resort, Saltash at 2:30pm

December07

CGS Christmas Lunch

By popular request, we return to the luxurious Carlyon Bay Hotel with its lovely views over the sea. The food is always excellent, the service swift and the staff friendly.

We look forward to celebrating the festive season with you from 12 noon on Saturday 7th December.

December10

Lecture: Alan Power – Stourhead

For this month’s lectures we will be joined by Alan Power. Join us at The Alverton, Tregolls Road, Truro from 7:30pm, to learn all about his time working at Stourhead

December11

Lecture: Alan Power – My Journey Through Great Gardens

Inspired by his mother to follow a career in horticulture and arboriculture, Alan has worked in and managed some of the most beautiful gardens and estates in the country, notably Mount Stewart in Northern Ireland, Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire and Stourhead in Wiltshire.

He has collaborated with the Gardeners’ World team on many occasions; presented on BBC Radio 4; co-presented British Gardens in Time on BBC4, and has lectured across Europe and North America.

In 2016, Alan was presented with an Honorary Doctorate by Writtle University for his outstanding contribution to horticulture.

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Spring comes early in West Cornwall so our first visit is to Trewidden, a magnificent, privately-owned Victorian garden where Head Gardener, Richard Morton and his team will show us Asiatic magnolias, early shrubs and spring flowers.

We then travel to Lady Banham’s riverside garden at Penberth with its rare daffodils, early shrubs and trees, and granite features and paths. Our guides will be Jeff Rowe and Claire Batten from Penberth Plants, winners of six RHS Chelsea Gold medals.

March12

Lecture: Kenneth Cox – The Woodland Garden

As well as our self-drive visit to Trewidden Garden, Buryas Bridge and Penberth House, St Buryan, we will also host our evening lecture on Tuesday 12th March as Kenneth Cox join us to tell us all about The Woodland Garden.